Covid vaccines administered last fall sharply decreased the risk of emergency department and urgent care visits in children, according to new data released on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The data, published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the agency’s premier publication provided a striking counterpoint to the Trump administration’s recent rhetoric about the vaccines.
The report showed that Covid shots cut the risk of needing medical care in the first six months after vaccination by 76 percent in children under 4, and 56 percent in children 5 to 17.
The researchers analyzed data collected through the Virtual SARS-CoV-2, Influenza, and Other respiratory viruses Network, or VISION, which includes electronic health records from medical centers in nine states.
They looked at pediatric visits to emergency departments and urgent care clinics from Aug. 29, 2024, to Sept. 2, 2025. They analyzed more than 44,500 such visits among children 9 months to 4 years old, and more than 53,000 encounters among children 5 to 17 years old.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has described Covid shots as “the deadliest vaccine ever made” and restricted their availability for healthy pregnant women. In September, advisers to the C.D.C. handpicked by Mr. Kennedy recommended that all Americans should receive a Covid shot only after consultation with a health care provider.
Over the last two weeks, officials at the Food and Drug Administration have said that Covid vaccines may have led to deaths in children and adults. They have not produced data to support those assertions. This week, Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit group founded by Mr. Kennedy, petitioned the F.D.A. to revoke approval of the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna.
Covid vaccines have been monitored for safety for as long as they have been available, but beyond rare heart problems, primarily in young men, no serious concerns have been identified, Dr. Adam Ratner, a pediatric infectious disease expert in New York, said.
Some public health experts have argued that the shots may offer only a small benefit, if any, to Americans who have acquired layers of immunity against the coronavirus from prior immunizations or infections. The new study challenges that notion.
The absolute number of vaccinated children in the study who sought medical care was small — just 26 children aged 5 to 17 years, for example — because of low infection rates and low uptake of vaccinations in the age group. But the overall samples sizes were large, and the results on vaccine effectiveness were statistically significant, clearly showing a benefit from the shots, said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at Emory University.
The report’s estimates of vaccine effectiveness were similar to or higher than those released for 2023 and 2024. The data overall suggest that the vaccines provided protection against severe symptoms even among children, who are generally considered to be at low risk for the disease.
“This latest M.M.W.R. reinforces what the pediatric research has been saying for years,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. (Dr. Hotez helped to develop a Covid vaccine that was administered to millions of adolescents in India.)
“The burden of pediatric illness from Covid is significant and justifies the importance of Covid immunizations,” he said.
Dr. Dean said she is concerned that new barriers to access might be decreasing the number of children who are vaccinated.
“Parents definitely want to keep their kids out of emergency departments and urgent care,” she said.
Apoorva Mandavilli reports on science and global health for The Times, with a focus on infectious diseases and pandemics and the public health agencies that try to manage them.
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